


At The Top of Our Lungs

by inawasteland



Series: 25 Days of Rooster Teeth [9]
Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-11
Updated: 2014-12-11
Packaged: 2018-03-01 00:14:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2752394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inawasteland/pseuds/inawasteland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Neo is mute-by-choice and Yang has been trying to get her to speak for months.  When Yang falls into a coma, Neo comes to terms with the fact that her voice may be the only thing that can wake Yang up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	At The Top of Our Lungs

The news is devastating for everyone. For so long, everyone had considered Yang to be indestructible. And while she isn’t dead, she might as well be. At least, that was what the doctors have been saying. Ruby has been by Yang’s bedside day and night, hoping beyond hope that something would change for her sister.

Blake and Weiss have visited as much as they could manage, but for Blake it was too painful to see. She had once loved Yang with all her heart, and no matter who Yang was in love with, that would never change.

But eventually, it was becoming apparent that keeping Yang alive, both with the machines and with whatever dust Weiss could manage, was not doing much to improve her situation. Ruby was, of course, too stubborn to see reason, would not accept that Yang would not want to live like this, and tried to stay as long as she could, until she was kicked out after visiting hours were over.

With the lights dimmed, and with Neo’s own knack for evading the watchful eyes of security guards, she was able to sneak into the hospital when nobody was aware. One brown and one pink eye surveyed the scene before quietly creeping up to the ward where Yang’s bed was located, using the whiteboard at the nurse’s station as a guide for where to find her.

She knew she could never visit while Ruby was there. For the longest time, Yang and Neo had to hide their relationship. Ruby just didn’t understand, and it didn’t help that Neo couldn’t exactly square things out with her. While Yang was willing to learn sign language to communicate, Ruby was far more skeptical.

Deep down, Neo couldn’t blame her. She hadn’t exactly run with the nicest of crowds. But she had tried to make amends. In the end, Neo had given up hope of ever reconciling with Ruby. She would never approve of her and Yang.

And so, she went into the hospital room, happy to see that it was just Yang there. She didn’t fancy a fight with any nurses at the moment.

She took a seat next to Yang and took her hand. It was strange, being here under these pretenses. The last time she had done any sort of sneaking around, it was for Roman. And now, she was here for Yang.

It was easy to look back on their relationship of the past year. The first time she had met Yang, they traded punches. But with Roman caught, Neo was without a leash, and it was only a matter of time before _she_ was caught. She hadn’t really meant to become so easily rehabilitated. But when Yang learned sign language to communicate with Neo, it took her by surprise. That someone on the other side of the fight would bother _trying_. Roman had told her stories of what Ironwood had done to people like her. People on the wrong side of the war. How was she supposed to know that most of what she had been told all her life was a lie?

And now here she was, watching over Yang. It gave her chills to think of how fragile life could be.

_The last time I saw you, we fought. You always signed at me, but you couldn’t figure the sign for something and then you_ shouted _at me. All you wanted was to hear my voice._ But Neo never said a word.

She left that morning before dawn and retreated back to the humble abode she had bought for herself. It was the place where she and Yang usually secluded themselves, since Neo recognized that Yang was one of the very few people to forgive her.

She paced back and forth, thinking of that sight she saw back in the hospital. Yang looked so peaceful, almost as if she was sleeping. It was so...unnatural. Yang, the boisterous and vivacious blonde, the one who always enjoyed getting a rise out of Neo. Neo should be the one in the coma.

It wasn’t fair.

Neo wiped at her eyes, unable to remember the last time she honest to god cried. She was supposed to be this hardened criminal and hah, if Roman could only see her now.

_I’m going to speak to you, little goldfinch_ she thought to herself. _Maybe if I speak to you, then you’ll wake up._

In fairy tales, it was always something ridiculous that woke the princess up, like true love’s first kiss. But Neo and Yang had shared too many kisses (and Neo had tried that, but no changes happened, nothing) so she figured it would have to be another gesture of love.

She also read that you can reach someone in a coma by talking to them, that they can hear you even if they can’t speak to you or respond. So maybe...maybe there was hope.

But after so many years of not speaking, Neo wasn’t sure what her voice would even sound like.

As it turned out, her voice sounded very hoarse from disuse. Neo is shocked because _that’s her voice_ she’s hearing and _holy shit she does have a voice!_ Having spent so many days signing everything, it was difficult to remember pronunciation. Each word sounded foreign when rolling off her tongue. She was certain that if she spoke like this it would only drive Yang further into her coma.

So she keeps practicing. She talks to the mirror, she talks to the birds outside her window, and she practically talks in her sleep. Until finally, she felt confident enough about her speech to share it with Yang.

Each nerve-wracking step to the hospital is a battle. She knows she should wait for the cover of night, knows that Ruby at the very least would be there. And sure enough, Ruby _and_ her two teammates are there. She almost makes an about-face when she feels someone grab her wrist.

“What do _you_ think you’re doing here?” the one called Weiss asks. Neo, ashamed of having been caught like this, looks to the floor. Her first instinct is to sign out an answer, but no. Now is the time to practice talking, for a real audience, so that she knows Yang is ready to hear voice.

“I’m here to see Yang.” She braces herself for the reaction, even going so far as closing her eyes as if she’s going to be ushered back out, maybe a little forcefully. But when nothing comes, she opens her eyes and notices them all staring at her, in shock.

“You...spoke?” Blake is the first to whisper.

“I forced myself to speak again. For _her_.” The words are difficult to get out, at first. She feels more anxiety when talking to strangers than she does in the confines of her own home, with nobody to listen. But it becomes easier, especially when the girls make a path for her, and she takes it, kneeling down at Yang’s bedside.

“I might have misjudged you,” Ruby confesses, but Neo is too preoccupied with brushing a strand of hair away from Yang’s face. “And I’m sorry...Yang loved you and I should have listened. I just didn’t think...when I didn’t see you here...”

Neo just shrugged her shoulders and placed her cheek against Yang’s forehead. The words slip out so easily now, because these words she had rehearsed time and time again until she memorized each and every one. By the time she finishes speaking, her heart is racing so quickly because this is it...this is what she is waiting for, some sort of reaction, some sign that maybe Yang _did_ hear her.

But nothing happens. Not at first, and when Neo stands up, willing herself not to cry in front of these girls, and refusing to let go of Yang’s hand until it’s too late. She can’t do it, she can’t let go of Yang’s hand and admit defeat, and all the frustration, everything boils up and explodes right then and there until she collapses again and cries. So much for keeping her composure.

She is too caught up in her own internal agony that she almost misses the movement. It isn’t until she distinctly hears gasps, followed by Ruby shouting out, “she’s waking up!” that Neo registers what’s happening.

She bolts upright just in time to watch Yang’s eyes open.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for missing a day with this! I will try to post extra updates this weekend to keep up.


End file.
